Missouri Farm Bureau, Republicans to rail against environmental rules

All of Missouri’s Republican congressional delegation will attend a news conference Thursday at the state fair.

Image courtesy of the Missouri State Fair

The group’s joining the Missouri Farm Bureau to express disapproval of federal regulations affecting the agriculture industry and push for regulatory reform.

Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst claims environmental rules enacted during the last decade, including under the Obama administration, are especially objectionable.

Hurst thinks the “Waters of the U.S.” regulation administered through the E.P.A. represents government overreach. He said “Much like the song you learned in elementary school about the jawbone being connected to the hipbone or whatever, the E.P.A. is saying, well, the stream is connected to the ground, next to it is connected to the dish that runs down to it, that’s connected to the wetland that’s 50 miles away, that’s connected to an ephemeral, or a part time stream that only appears when there’s a heavy rain. In other words, they want it all.”

This regulation has actually been blocked from implementation by a federal court while it’s being litigated as the subject of a lawsuit.

Hurst also points to a federal ruling where a farmer, who was plowing farmland near a wetland, reportedly was fined $6 million.

He claims the environmental regulations impede overall economic growth as well as within the agriculture industry.

The news conference is being held at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Republican Senator Roy Blunt along five-of–six GOP congress members, including Ann Wagner and Blaine Luetkemeyer, are scheduled to appear at the event.